Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 (2015)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Julianne Moore, Sam Claflin, Mahershala Ali, Jena Malone, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, and Elizabeth Banks

Directed by Francis Lawrence

The thought that kept running through my head while watching this final chapter of The Hunger Games saga was that I'm not sure if there's been a more depressing film franchise placed to have such enormous monetary success.  While I rather enjoyed the first part of Mockingjay as it took a spin away from the titular fight-to-the-death battles set up by the tyrannical President Snow (Donald Sutherland), stretching what is a political flick across two over-two-hour films becomes a little tedious.  Everything heroine Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) was striving to achieve in Part 1, she's still striving to achieve here.  That isn't to say that there aren't some nice moments as director Francis Lawrence has a good eye for crafting action set pieces, but Mockingjay Part 2 feels like a bit of a letdown for a series I rather enjoyed.

I could go on further in this review, but I'll leave things rather simplified.  It's not that Mockingjay, Part 2 is bad, but it's disappointingly bland considering what has come before.  Emotionally, I found myself rather disconnected at its conclusion and it's just a bit of a shame that the series couldn't end on a better note given all the positives that came before.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Mission: Impossible III

-- Mission: Impossible Week --
Please note that all Mission: Impossible Week film reviews may contain spoilers related to both the film that is being reviewed and other films in the series.

Mission: Impossible III (2006)

Starring Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Ving Rhames, Billy Crudup, Michelle Monaghan, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Keri Russell, Maggie Q, Simon Pegg, Eddie Marsan, and Laurence Fishburne

Directed by J.J. Abrams

After the absolute debacle that was Mission: Impossible II, anything -- and I mean absolutely anything -- would've been an improvement.  Fortunately, this third installment in the M:I series leaves behind John Woo's white doves and fiery orange color palette for an admittedly much more cookie-cutter action picture.  Still, director J.J. Abrams' debut feature film rounded up a great cast (which as mentioned before is a bit of a staple for the M:I pics) and showed Hollywood that he had potential as a feature film helmer.

The film begins with Ethan Hunt (Cruise) setting out on a mission (impossible) to rescue fellow IMF agent Lindsey Farris (Keri Russell) whom Hunt himself trained from an undercover assignment that has gone horribly wrong.  Unfortunately, the rescue is a failure and Lindsey ends up dead (much to the chagrin of this blogger and longtime fan of Ms. Russell).  Determined to find the person who killed her, Hunt and his team (this time made up of newcomers Maggie Q, Jonathan Rhys Meyers, and returnee Ving Rhames) begin to hunt down arms dealer Declan Gormley (Philip Seymour Hoffman) whose "business" Lindsey was attempting to infiltrate.

While the action sequences are certainly solid, what makes Mission: Impossible III stand out is Philip Seymour Hoffman's villain.  Hoffman relishes the maniacal nature of his character and from his opening scene to his last, he brings a vibrancy to the flick that we hadn't quite seen yet in the pictures in the franchise.  To balance Hoffman out, Cruise's Hunt is given a serious love interest in this film in Michelle Monaghan's Julia and the relationship gives us a more well-rounded picture of the series' main protagonist.

The negative to this film -- and admittedly it's a bit of a problem -- is that it's oddly forgettable.  As I sit here typing up this review a week after watching the flick, I found myself finding it difficult to remember key action pieces.  Even in the dismal M:I II, I recalled moments.  With Mission: Impossible III, however, it feels a bit too generic for its own good.  Without a particularly unique stylization from an auteur, Abrams has crafted a well-made action movie, but one that feels like it could've been a part of any other franchise.  Still, the film works and it works pretty well.  However, as you'll see soon, improvements could still be made on the franchise to really make it shine.

The RyMickey Rating:  B-

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (2014)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Julianne Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Woody Harrelson, Donald Sutherland, Elizabeth Banks, Sam Claflin, Jeffrey Wright, and Stanley Tucci

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Admittedly, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 doesn't really go anywhere and it ends on roughly the same emotional note at which it begins, but I found the continuation of the dystopian saga oddly intriguing in that we've finally moved on from the arena-esque battle-to-the-death melees and have instead shifted focus to what has always been most intriguing about the series -- the government's manipulation of its people and those who try to rise up and fight those in charge.  While many critics harangued the cash grab to split Mockingjay into two parts, I couldn't help but find myself thoroughly involved in the goings-on of Part 1 of this final installment.

Following the nasty Quarter Quell in which President Snow (Donald Sutherland) forced previous Hunger Games winners to come back and fight to the death, Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) and a few of her fellow Tributes were rescued by the secret District 13 of Panem.  Headed by President Alma Coin (Julianne Moore) and aided by President Snow's former colleague Plutarch Heavensbee (Philip Seymour Hoffman), Katniss is asked to become a propaganda tool for District 13's attempts to overthrow Snow.  After reluctantly agreeing, Katniss heads out across the various districts, filming and seeing first-hand the damage that Snow and his government is inflicted on the lower class districts.

Of course, this wouldn't be a Hunger Games film if there wasn't some love triangle angle and Katniss still finds herself torn between her two men -- Gale (Liam Hemsworth), who valiantly tried to save his people when District 12 came under attack but now resides in District 13, and Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) who was taken by Snow after the Quarter Quell and is being manipulated by the government to spout Snow's agenda.  Katniss' struggle over who to love still continues here without any real resolution.

I know that I shouldn't care for Mockingjay - Part 1 and I should be ticked off that the Powers That Be stunted the momentum of the franchise by separating the final part of this trilogy into two installments, but despite the slower pace, I think that this first installment works.  Maybe it was just the change of pace from the war games-style flick to a revenge/vengeance-style film, but I found the film totally watchable and able to hold my attention.  Admittedly, Jennifer Lawrence's take on Katniss is wearing a little thin and her range of emotions is anything but subtle, but the rest of the cast helps carry the film beyond typical teen fare.  The addition of Julianne Moore here is a welcome treat who manages to elevate the whole affair and gives her character a surprising amount of hutzpah in just a few scenes.  Overall, color me surprised considering the critical thrashing this film received upon its release.  This edition of Mockingjay has me looking forward to the finale of this surprisingly enjoyable series.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - God's Pocket

God's Pocket (2014)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Richard Jenkins, Christina Hendricks, John Turturro, Eddie Marsan, and Caleb Landry Jones

Directed by John Slattery

Talk about a snooze fest.  One of Philip Seymour Hoffman's last films, God's Pocket tells the tale of a working class Philadelphia neighborhood known as Devil's Pocket wherein tough guys and broads abound.  Leon (Caleb Landry Jones) is a live wire -- a twentysomething factory worker whose racist remarks and poor work ethic don't sit well with his co-workers.  One day, after a spouting a particularly cruel diatribe against an older black man, the elderly gentleman whacks him on the side of the head with a pipe and Leon dies.  The manager of the factory and the crew decide to cover up the death, saying that it was an accident...and one would think that the movie would be about setting up whether these crew members would be discovered for their crime.

But no...after the murder in the film's opening ten minutes, we don't really revisit the investigation in the slightest.  Sure, Leon's death looms over the rest of the film's proceedings, but the film instead focuses on Leon's mother and stepfather Jeannine and Mickey (Christina Hendricks and Hoffman) and Jeannine's newfound affair with a reporter (Richard Jenkins) investigating Leon's death.  Taking place over the course of three days, God's Pocket goes nowhere with all of its characters wallowing around in dank, dark places not talking about anything of much importance except how hard life is in The Pocket.

This is actor John Slattery's first film as a director and there are sparks of interesting moments, but nothing ever truly lights up.  The acting is all so dreadfully sullen and dull that there's never a moment of respite from the dreariness.

The RyMickey Rating:  D

Movie Review - A Most Wanted Man

A Most Wanted Man (2014)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Rachel McAdams, Robin Wright, Daniel Brühl, Grigoriy Dobrygin, Homayoun Ershadi, and Willem Dafoe

Directed by Anton Corbijn

What starts out very promisingly ends up being a bit too slow for its own good in A Most Wanted Man, a "thriller" about the leader of a secret German government intelligence agency's search for Muslim terrorists making their home on the streets of Hamburg.  Director Anton Corbijn's film is well acted, nicely directed, and adequately scripted, but the flick pulls the audience along with the notion that something surprising or exciting or intriguing will happen at the film's end.  To me, the flick's conclusion wasn't shocking or thrilling in the slightest as I found it rather obviously telegraphed from the film's onset.  Granted, there may be a detail or two that wasn't blatantly conspicuous, but not enough to really wow me.

A Most Wanted Man is buoyed by a good performance from Philip Seymour Hoffman -- one of his last -- as Günther Bachmann, the head of the covert German terrorism unit.  Troubled by the notion that the 9/11 terrorists planned their attacks right under his nose, Hoffman's Bachmann heads to the drink and the smokes quite often in order to placate himself into a calmer disposition.  A little more depth for his character would've been nice, but in the end, the film's focus is actually more on the purported terrorist Issa Karpov (Grigoriy Dobrygin) who just entered the country who Bachmann and his team are vigilantly following around.  The tension in the film stems from the notion that Bachmann's undisclosed governmental team desires to simply track Karpov in order to hope he'll lead to bigger terroristic fish while the "official" German and American authorities (the latter headed by Robin Wright) want to jump on Karpov right away.  This tug of war between Bachmann and his bosses is the most interesting aspects of the film, presumably basing itself in realistic tension and adding a layer to the film that we oftentimes don't see portrayed.

Unfortunately for the film, it's too long for its own good.  Yes, the length builds the tension, but the payoff doesn't correlate to the running time.  Instead, we get the same things over and over again -- Bachmann fighting with the higher-ups, Karpov talking with his human rights lawyer (played by Rachel McAdams), Bachmann following people around in his car -- and after the first admittedly good forty-five minutes, I found myself twiddling my thumbs.  A Most Wanted Man wants to be called a smart thriller, but there simply aren't enough thrills to warrant the "thriller" moniker.  A decent film, but one that's missing a bit of oomph.

The RyMickey Rating:  C+

Movie Review - The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (2013)

Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Philip Seymour Hofman, Jeffrey Wright, Stanley Tucci, Sam Claflin, Jena Malone, and Donald Sutherland

Directed by Francis Lawrence

Comparing The Hunger Games film series to the Twilight series is inevitably going to happen simply because both focus on female protagonists and both stem from extremely popular literary tomes.  The comparison isn't fair in the slightest, however, because there's simply no competition -- The Hunger Games beats the Twilight series to a pulp in all areas -- story, acting, and direction.

With the first film in the series ending with Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) formulating a plan for herself and her good friend Peeta (Josh Hutcherson) to win the Hunger Games together, her success and intelligence doesn't sit too well with President Snow (Donald Sutherland).  Seeing his nation desiring to rebel against The Capitol and his presidency, Snow decides to throw a twist at Katniss -- for the 75th Hunger Games, previous winners will be forced to battle each other to the death again with only one winner taking the glory.

Admittedly, Catching Fire is really just a rehash of The Hunger Games, however, I think overall, the film plays better than its predecessor.  We've come to hate President Snow which makes his maniacal ways even more disturbing.  We've grown to care for Katniss and feel more empathy for her being forced to take part in a love triangle with herself, her public love Peeta, and her private love Gale (Liam Hemsworth).  The battle between the twelve districts against the Capitol holds more gravitas after we've seen what the government puts its citizens through during the Hunger Games.  It's because of this increased feeling of import that Catching Fire works better than the original film despite similar plots.

Unfortunately, this very thing that makes Catching Fire resonate more also doesn't allow it to feel remotely original.  We're given, for all intents and purposes, the same story again.  The actors across the board sell it, keeping up the good work we saw in the original, and director Francis Lawrence also keeps the film looking as nice as the first flick.  However, I found myself longing for less of the Hunger Games themselves and more of the battle between the government and its citizens.  Fortunately, I hear that the third installment will grant my wishes.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - A Late Quartet

A Late Quartet (2012)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener, Mark Ivanir, and Imogen Poots

Directed by Yaron Zilberman

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

An adult melodrama, A Late Quartet is full of so many soap operatic clichés that it gets a bit tiresome at times, but despite my best efforts to roll my eyes at certain moments, something about director and co-screenwriter Yaron Zilberman's first feature film clicks.  The film focuses on a famous string quartet called The Fugue who have been together for over two decades.  When their cellist Peter (Christopher Walken) receives a diagnosis that he's entering the early stages of Parkinson's, the news affects each of his fellow quartet members in different ways sending them all on emotional journeys that they likely weren't expecting.

Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener play husband and wife Robert and Juliette.  Together since the start of the trio, they have a college age daughter Alexandra (Imogen Poots) who is also striving to become an expert string musician.  The fourth member of the quartet is Daniel (Mark Ivanir), the founder of the group, first chair violinist (a position that sets up some tension as the film progresses), and über-serious Russian immigrant.  Peter was a mentor to Robert, Juliette, and Daniel and the news of his debilitating disease affects them not only professionally, but also personally, sending them all on an emotional roller coaster.

Despite the silliness of some of the plot points, A Late Quartet exudes a intelligence that one doesn't often find in films.  Maybe it's simply because of the focus on classical music, but something here felt refreshingly adult in the dialog, even if the actions of some of these characters bordered on teenage idiocy.  The intellectual aire is due in part to the screenwriter, but it helps that the actors like Philip Seymour Hoffman and Mark Ivanir were entirely believable in their roles as classical musicians.  I've known a few classically trained musicians and they composed themselves just like them.  Catherine Keener is also fine, but she's saddled with one of the worst scenes in the movie involving her character and her daughter that even she couldn't really act her way out of the absurdity.  Christopher Walken is...well, Christopher Walken.  While he's not quite playing a caricature of himself as I feel he's done in recent years, I never quite manage to see Walken as anyone other than himself.  That being said, when the film begins one assumes that the movie is going to be all about his character Peter, but after the opening act, the focus shifts greatly to the other members of the quartet probably to the film's benefit.

I realize I've done a little bit of trashing of A Late Quartet in the above review and I completely recognize that at times it plays like a really mature Lifetime movie.  Still, despite the lowbrow nature of certain aspects of the flick, the intelligence outshines the melodramatic theatrics and makes this definitely worth a stream on Netflix.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Master

The Master (2012)

Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Laura Dern

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Without a doubt, Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master is filled with beautiful direction and superb acting, but I can't exactly say it's overly enjoyable to watch.  In and of itself, that's not a bad thing, but the film which delves into the inner workings of cults, mind control, wartime post-dramatic stress disorder, and free will (or a lack thereof) is an odd duck.  While I grew fascinated with the characters, I couldn't help but notice an odd sense of detachment that runs throughout, never quite allowing me to fully enter the world that was created oscreen.  For some reason, there was just some odd disconnect with the film that less than twenty-four hours removed I can't quite explain yet.

I had heard some talk that there wasn't really a narrative throughout the film, but I thought there was a fairly legitimate through-line story...although "story" isn't necessarily the driving force of the film which may be why it doesn't quite settle in comfortably while you're watching it.  We meet Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), a WWII vet who turns to booze to cope with his memories and finds that he can't quite keep the lowly jobs that have come his way upon return to the States.  One night Freddie stumbles upon a party on a yacht and sneaks aboard.  Upon awakening, rather than be booted off the boat, he's befriended by the man chartering it -- Lancaster Dodd.  Dodd's a charming man with a charismatic personality that easily switches from introspectiveness to bombast, but it makes him a difficult man to pin down by both the audience and by Freddie.  Dodd's the leader of a movement known as "The Cause" and believes strongly in the philosophies of past lives.  Through psychological and sociological experiments, Dodd seems to be a manipulator of sorts and for some reason does what he can to keep Freddie firmly under his thumb.  As the film slowly progresses, we see the relationship between Freddie and Dodd evolve and devolve and it certainly is the basis for any type of story we witness (however loose that story may be).

The film looks stunning.  There were shots that had me in awe of their simplicity, yet enthralled by their depth, richness, and gorgeousness.  And the acting is definitely top-notch, with Philip Seymour Hoffman actually impressing me a bit more than Joaquin Phoenix (the latter of whom is garnering much deserved praise for his role).  While I admired both of them, Phoenix's part simply seemed a little more "actorly" and a bit more gimmicky in his mannerisms and verbalizations.  I say that with great respect as Phoenix still managed to enthrall me throughout, but if I were to compare the two, Hoffman's role comes out a bit on top.  I think a large part of that is due to the fact that his character is still such an enigma to me.  A kind and considerate man, yet one who has great power and knows how to manipulate so easily that it's almost frightening, Hoffman as Dodd had me thoroughly intrigued every moment he was onscreen.

And yet something didn't quite click and, as I mentioned above, I'm not quite sure what didn't work.  I found myself checking my watch quite often throughout the film despite loving many scenes, being fascinated by the visuals, and enamored with the two main performances.  [I've left Amy Adams out of the conversation because while her role was good, I don't find it quite worthy of the unanimous effusive praise it's been receiving.]  I liked the almost behind-the-scenes look at the Scientology-based group "The Cause," but the film doesn't really take a stand as to whether this religion (or any religion, for that matter) is a help or a hindrance to society as a whole.  It also left me questioning why these two souls in Freddie and Lancaster mutually needed the contentious relationship in which they found themselves.  On Freddie's end, it's almost understandable -- a wayward drifter who found a somewhat steady hand to feed and clothe him.  But on Lancaster's side of the equation, was Freddie just a guinea pig for his attempts at strengthening his "Cause?"  The question is never really answered and, unfortunately, I think it's an important enough one that an answer is deserved.

The Master is certainly an interesting movie and one that has some beautiful moments, but it's also one that probably deserves to be watched again to more fully comprehend just what Paul Thomas Anderson was trying to say.  However, and perhaps rather unfortunately, it's not the type of film that you want to jump right back into to have another go.

The RyMickey Rating:  B

Movie Review - The Ides of March

The Ides of March (2011)

Starring Ryan Gosling, George Clooney, Evan Rachel Wood, Paul Giamatti, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Max Minghella, and Marisa Tomei

Directed by George Clooney

I'm not sure if The Ides of March was attempting to be something more thought-provoking than the simple melodrama I took away from it, but if George Clooney's film was trying to be meaningful and insightful, it didn't succeed at all on that level.  The slowly unfolding story (and I do mean slowly...particularly in the first fifty minutes of tedium) eventually turns into something rather riveting, but it's really just a glorified soap opera -- not that there's anything wrong with that if it's as well-crafted as this is in its final moments.  That said, The Ides of March tries to mask the overly dramatic moments, wanting instead to feign that it's incredibly important when, in fact, it simply reiterates what is already known -- politics is full of shady dealings and lapses in ethics by the very people who purport to be the moral pillars of society.

I knew very little going into The Ides of March and, in the end, that's probably for the best, so I'm going to reveal very little in terms of the plot except to say that the film focuses on thirty-year-old Stephen Meyers (Ryan Gosling), a young campaign advisor for Pennsylvania governor/Democratic presidential candidate Mike Morris (George Clooney).  Stephen is a strong up-and-comer and is lauded for his smarts when it comes to the political spectrum.  Stephen's partner/boss on Morris's campaign is Paul Zara (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a longtime advisor to Democratic candidates.  Paul and Stephen seem like a solid duo, offering the opposite spectrums of weathered experience and wide-eyed optimism, respectively, to the Morris campaign.  For nearly the first fifty minutes, the film simply feels like a look at these three men on the campaign trail with occasional looks at Morris's competitor's campaign headed by Tom Duffy (Paul Giamatti) who is certain his candidate will overtake Morris's apparent lead.

Finally, nearly an hour into the movie, something interesting finally happens which I won't reveal here and the movie takes the viewer on an interesting little ride which, while not full of necessarily surprising twists and turns, is at least thoroughly entertaining.  As an auteur, George Clooney (like his fellow actor/director Clint Eastwood) is very old school, utilizing very little in terms of gimmickry.  Usually, I'd be all for that, but in all of Clooney's films (much like Eastwood's) he can't move the movie along at a quick enough clip to keep me interested.  While well shot and nicely framed, the story just lacks a powerful punch for nearly half of the running time.

Part of the problem in The Ides of March is that the film doesn't give the viewer anything new to chew on.  Are we surprised that members of the same political party do anything and everything they can to defame their fellow members (shades of Herman Cain and the current Republicans perhaps)?  Are we shocked by a lack of ethics from our political candidates and their campaign workers?  There's just nothing surprising about the uncouth underbelly of politics.  The film at least comes alive when it gravitates towards the melodrama that comes hand-in-hand with lapses in morality.  The lack of vivacity and any modicum of excitement in the first half, though, doesn't push the film forward at all.  [Truth be told here...I looked at my watch about twenty minutes into the movie and I seriously felt that at least fifty minutes had gone by...I almost said aloud, "You've got to be kidding me."]

"Star" George Clooney actually takes a backseat to Ryan Gosling's Stephen, but this is still Gosling's least interesting role this year (after Crazy, Stupid, Love and Drive).  However, Gosling continues to prove that he is probably the best actor of my generation.  He plays a smooth talker here with Stephen's up-and-coming status in politics not having sullied him yet by the cynicism that permeates his fellow older co-workers' daily lives.  Clooney is fine, but is hurt by an opening hour that simply has him spouting off speeches that seemed too well-written to ring true.  Hoffman and Giamatti are both quite good in their roles of the weathered campaign advisors and Evan Rachel Wood is also strong as the young intern who has a thing for Stephen.

Still, had The Ides of March simply dropped the pompous aire of self-importance in the opening acts and skipped directly to the smart soap opera-like twists and turns that made up the rather exciting climax, this would have been a flick I could have wholeheartedly recommended.  As it stands, though, it's too bland to really amount to anything worth talking about.

The RyMickey Rating:  C

Movie Review - Moneyball

Moneyball (2011)

Starring Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, and Philip Seymour Hoffman

Directed by Bennett Miller

Moneyball is a non-sports sports movie.  While we get glimpses of some moments on the baseball field during the Oakland A's 2002 season, the real crux of the movie happens behind the scenes in the clubhouse as general manager Billy Beane (Brad Pitt in a role he completely embodies) utilizes a decades-old statistical method of choosing players based on their on-base percentage rather than anything else and ends up crafting a baseball team that finds themselves in the running to win the World Series.

After an unsuccessful playoff run in 2001, Beane's squad is hit with the loss of three key players to three teams willing to pay the athletes boatloads of money, and the A's owner refuses to pony up any more money for Beane to entice the so-called 'top tier' players to Oakland -- as Billy says, "there are the rich teams, then there are the poor teams, then there's 50 feet of crap, and then there's us."  Desperate, Billy meets Peter Brand (Jonah Hill), a young Yale economics graduate who helps Beane use statistics in an attempt to build a cost-effective and, above all else, successful baseball team.

The whole flick was certainly intriguing and even though I follow the Phillies (a team which I'd rather not talk about in these weeks following their disappointing 2011 playoff run), I wasn't the least bit knowledgeable about this Oakland A's team.  Because of that, there was a bit of genuine suspense that built as the movie progressed and, thanks to a wonderful performance from Brad Pitt, viewers find themselves completely invested in the real-life "character" of Billy Beane.

Pitt plays Beane as a determined man -- he wants nothing more than for his baseball team to be as successful as possible.  But he's also an incredibly doubtful and nervous man, anxious to see if his new approach to the game will be successful, knowing full well that if he fails, he's out of a job.  Having bailed on a full scholarship to college in order to play for the Mets as a young man (which proved to be a quick and unsuccessful venture), he has nothing else to fall back on and Pitt is incredibly adept at relaying that sense of uncertainty and unease.

Jonah Hill as the numbers cruncher Brand and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the A's reluctant and dismissive coach Art Howe both find themselves more than holding their own with Pitt.  This is certainly Hill's best role yet (although that's a bit of faint praise for the heretofore comic actor), although I will say I'm not quite sure where the Oscar buzz for him comes in (although it could very well be that the Supporting Actor category appears incredibly weak at this stage in the game).  Also, nice work from Parks and Recreations' Chris Pratt as a player given a second lease on the game by Beane and the young Kerris Dorsey as Beane's daughter who helps us see the more "human" side of the GM.

While Moneyball is absolutely a good film, there's a lack of passion that is necessary to make a "great" one.  Still, kudos to director Bennett Miller and writers Steve Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin for somehow crafting an interesting flick that's based around baseball statistics.  The fact that they managed to create high levels of tension considering the subject matter is a credit to their talent.

The RyMickey Rating:  B+

Movie Review - Pirate Radio (2009)

Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Nighy, Rhys Ifans, Nick Frost, Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, and Tom Sturridge
Directed by Richard Curtis

Richard Curtis definitely has a distinctive directing and writing style and although he's not incredibly prolific, his three previous "big time" releases -- Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, and Love, Actually -- are all darn impressive. I can say that he's a director whose films I would seek out and look forward to seeing.

Unfortunately, Curtis falters with his most recent effort, Pirate Radio (also known as The Boat That Rocked), the tale of a boat on the North Sea illegally broadcasting rock and roll over the airwaves despite the British government's stern warnings. As I was watching, I couldn't help but think that I would've loved to have seen this movie as a weekly tv series rather than as a movie. The film is about the quirky and funny characters and not about plot at all, and, unfortunately, that's its downfall. As a tv show, we could gradually learn about each of these humorous disc jockeys, but trying to squeeze all of these larger-than-life personalities into a movie didn't really work.

And the thing is, it's not like this is a bad movie. It's directed quite well (although there were one too many cutaway shots of people on the mainland dancing around their radios). The acting is really all top notch. Philip Seymour Hoffman is great as the seemingly grounded main DJ. Bill Nighy is hilarious as the founder of the pirate radio station. And everyone else is enjoyable to watch as well (with the exception of Kenneth Branagh as a government official whose role was much too one-dimensional and whose storyline brought down the rest of the movie).

Add to that, the great soundtrack featuring everything from the Beach Boys to the Moody Blues to Procol Harum to The Who, and you've got yourself an enjoyable two hours.

It's unfortunate that the movie's about nothing...just a series of little inanities that don't really mean anything in the grand scheme of the overall plot. This guy gets married, this guy finds out who his real father is, these two DJs are fighting about who's better...nothing matters because nothing's important.

And it's a shame because there's something here that would work so incredibly well. I enjoyed myself during this movie...I just wish I could have enjoyed it more.

The RyMickey Rating: C

Movie Review -- Doubt (2008)

starring Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, and Viola Davis

written and directed by John Patrick Shanley

Having read the play this movie is based on a few years ago and greatly enjoying it, this was my most anticipated movie of the holiday season. Unfortunately (as seen previously in my Slumdog Millionaire review), high expectations don't always yield the best results. And Doubt was no exception.

It's the 1960s and Father Flynn (Hoffman) is trying all he can to keep his parish (which is adjacent to a Catholic school) "with the times," so to speak, providing intriguing sermons for the adults and being down to earth with the students. This doesn't necessarily sit well with Sister Aloysius (Streep) who is none too fond of Flynn. When young Sister James (Adams) has a tiny suspicion of Flynn sexually abusing the school's only black student, Aloysius takes the chance and runs with it in order to get Flynn out of the parish...whether or not the allegations are true doesn't seem to matter.

It's an incredibly simple story. That's it. As a play, there were only four characters (the supposed victim's mother played by Davis appears in only one critical scene). As a play, I would've imagined this thing would've worked.

As a movie, not so much, and I think that mostly has to do with Shanley's direction and additions to his script (he also wrote the original play). There were incredibly odd shots -- at crooked angles, looking upwards or downwards onto the actors...really just stupid shots. I found myself laughing at some of them. As for the script add-ons, they really just made Streep's character almost a joke...at the beginning of the film, her character almost seemed like she was in a comedy when she was interacting with the children in her school.

That being said, the acting in this thing was mostly top-notch, my favorite being Amy Adams. Adams has the "innocent" role down pat, after a star-making turn in Enchanted, but she was great here. Viola Davis was also excellent in her one powerful scene. Hoffman was serviceable, but he was nothing to write home about. And as for Streep...it was a hoot to watch her, but I couldn't help but think that her portrayal was all over the place. It ran the gamut from humorous to downright nasty and she never really found the right balance to me.

No doubt (no pun intended there) that my experience was slightly hampered due to some poor sound issues throughout the movie (making it seem as if I was hearing things from behind a closed door), but I think I'd much rather see this as a play rather than as a movie. However, despite the grade I'm giving it below, it was an interesting movie...one that I would definitely recommend seeing (on dvd).

The RyMickey Rating: C